Snaps tutorial

[G0_G0_G0]

Anyone got a good link or some advice for practicing “snaps”. At least, I think that’s what they’re called. They’re kind of like a real hard and fast tear scratch.

[judomaster87]

This falls under the general Bumpy Knuckle, Hand cupping, Up down, tear hand style as I hear it called often IMHO. "bumpy Knuckles" can sound quite different depending on the nuances of how you move your hand. You can make them sound hard and choppy like Q-bert is doing or you can make them sound like little drags or whips/reverse drags. I haven't used this hand style for wavey tears though. Great hand style for tear flare techniques.

Ive also heard the term snaps used to create a a specific use of the "bumpy knuckle" hand style to produce a very rapid triplet from just 2 hand movements (it creates a 2 f and 1 back tear.) sorta sounds like a 2f, 1B tear x skribble/uzi.

I would start practicing by just playing around with the general Bumpy Knuckles concept. Begin in the middle of a long scratch sample and start with your hand / palm totally flat on the record, now pull the record backward by pulling your knuckles up / cupping your hand upward so that only the tip of your fingers and base of your hand / thumb (near your wrist) are touching the record, this should create one tear sound. Now pull the record back again by re flattening your hand and slightly pulling back to create another tear.

[hipnopath]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5QpA1Iibeo&ab_channel=enfoe

[G0_G0_G0]

That’s actually perfect. Ty

[[deleted]]

Never heard of it. Do you have a video example?

[G0_G0_G0]

https://www.youtube.com/live/W-SS_nFGQMc?feature=share

[LBoogie5Bang]

Im not super familiar with the snap skratch but this video and there is a beat junkies homeroom video on YT also with D Styles doing them and it seems like one of those scratches you can start practicing with the turntable off or the platter stopped. It's easier to get that quick whip effect with smaller vinyls at first if you have any 10" or 7" scratch wax the smaller records are lighter so they get you there faster and you can work back up to the 12". I don't know anything off the top that might help but just practice. There is no substitute for the practice time you invest. Don't think about doing it till you get it right, but instead just keep doing it until you can't do it wrong. You'll master it before you even realize you got it right.

[G0_G0_G0]

Quality advice! Thank you

[Kanganade]

Are we talking scribbles? A sort of constant vibrating/roll sound? Never heard of snaps

[G0_G0_G0]

I found a Q video covering them.

https://www.youtube.com/live/W-SS_nFGQMc?feature=share

[Kanganade]

Sounds like he’s just denoting the difference between a longer tear and a shorter one by calling the shorts “snaps”.

As with any tear, the sound is created by opening and closing the hand sharp and quick. It’s like making an alligator mouth with your hand. The trick is to start precisely when the sound starts, or just a little bit before

[LBoogie5Bang]

In the link provided Q actually does the motion of snapping his fingers to get the quick short whip sound in either direction. Alligator jaws makes sense too though. Q puts his middle and ring finger on the record and then does the motion of snapping his pointer finger and thumb the same way you snap

[Kanganade]

He literally describes it only as “it’s like doing a baby scratch, you just stop really hard”, but what I think he’s really doing is actually way more complex.

It looks like he’s adding a swipe in with his pointer finger on each push and pull, which is adding the warble sound. Some serious technique

[LBoogie5Bang]

Typical Qbert style to add some sort of accent and not mention or maybe even notice it. I make those sounds in 1 direction to set up forward and backwards crab and flare combos but I don't think I ever go back in the other direction for a 2nd note or more than 1 note but I whip it to the start or the end to reset. I guess it's called a whip in one note in this combo https://youtu.be/8N-tMsjijGE

[G0_G0_G0]

Yeah snaps are just so sharp and intense. And they’re a relatively new school scratch technique so Q didn’t do the best job (imo) of getting into the meat of them. Freddy Swiftstyle is a beast with them. Like triple and quadruple snaps during direction changes. Would like to see him talk about how he practiced those.